Little girl with Crohn’s gets opportunity to attend Alberta summer camp

Elisheva Ausfresser is packing for a week-long overnight trip to Bragg Creek, Alta., but this summer camp is a little different than most.

When Elisheva was eight years old, her mom noticed something was wrong.

“She wasn’t feeling well at first, nauseous,” her mom Michelle Ausfresser explained. “Then the nausea transformed into vomiting every time she’d try to eat.”

Elisheva’s friends were growing taller and filling out, but the little girl lost her appetite and started losing weight.

“Whenever I ate something, even if it was my favourite thing in the world, it would make me feel sick.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Whenever I ate something, even if it was my favourite thing in the world, it would make me feel sick."

Michelle said one thing stood out to her as being especially concerning.

“She really likes treats – like any other kid – and the times she didn’t want anything, that was a huge red flag.”

After numerous trips to the pediatrician, a doctor suggested Elisheva might have Crohn’s disease, like her mother.

“She was put through lots of tests,” Michelle said. “Colonoscopies, X-rays, CAT scans, you name it – she probably took it.”

Finally, the doctor’s suspicion was confirmed. The little girl’s stomach was supposed to allow food through, but instead it was blocked.

“Food didn’t come in and it just went out the other way,” Elisheva explained.

Surgeons made a bypass for food to travel through Elisheva’s stomach and it made all the difference. She started to regain her appetite.

“Now I can basically eat almost anything except small nuts and seeds and stuff.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Now I can basically eat almost anything except small nuts and seeds and stuff."

She doesn’t know a lot of other kids with the disease, but will soon get a chance to change that.

Elisheva is packing for summer camp, one specifically designed for kids with Crohn’s and Colitis.

“Instead of needing to explain it to them, they would just immediately understand because some of them are going through the same thing,” she said.

It’s an experience her mom wishes she had.

“As a kid growing up with Crohn’s disease, I actually did try going to sleep-away camp, and I was sick the whole time. I had to come home early because they didn’t know how to handle Crohn’s.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "As a kid growing up with Crohn's disease, I actually did try going to sleep-away camp, and I was sick the whole time. I had to come home early because they didn't know how to handle Crohn's."

Camp Got2Go is supervised by nurses and will see 45 youth travel to Easter Seals Camp Horizon for a week of outdoor fun.

“I’m really looking forward to the rope courses and archery,” Elisheva said.

She leaves for camp Sunday.